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London Buses route N21
London Buses route N21 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Bexleyheath and Trafalgar Square, it is operated by London Central. History Night Bus Route N21 is the night service for route 21 between Bank and Lewisham, and - until 10 October 2009 - for route 233 between Eltham and Foots Cray, for route 51 between Blackfen and Foots Cray and for route 321 between New Cross Gate and Eltham and Sidcup (Police station) and Foots Cray. The N21 was introduced to provide a night service over the original route 21 between Central London and Sidcup (Foots Cray), but with a deviation via Avery Hill and Blackfen, to serve the University of Greenwich, which provides the route with steady patronage between there and Central London (not just at weekends either). It originally operated from Victoria to Foots Cray via its current routing but on Friday and Saturday Nights some journeys ran via New Eltham and Mottingham, terminating at Sidcup. In 1999, the route was re-structured again with the extra weekend journeys via New Eltham being revised to operate from Eltham to Chislehurst via Mottingham and was introduced to run every night (not just weekends). The original service to Foots Cray via Blackfen and Sidcup remained unchanged. Changes to the frequency meant buses running every 30 minutes between Victoria and Eltham then every 60 mins to Chislehurst and Foots Cray respectively. In 2002, the route was converted to low floor operation using Alexander ALX400 and Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs. In June 2002, another re-structure saw the Chislehurst Journeys withdrawn and run through to Foots Cray. Instead, providing a 30 min service over the whole route. The route was also shortened to start and terminate at Trafalgar Square as opposed to Victoria. On Friday and Saturday nights, patronage was such that extras were introduced between Eltham High Street and Trafalgar Square, combined with the Foots Cray Buses providing a 15-minute service over that section of route. With the withdrawal of the Chislehurst Services, Mottingham and Chislehurst were without a night bus route until Feb 2008 when the N136 was introduced (replacing parts of the N36). The route was further amended on 10 October 2009, being withdrawn between Blackfen and Sidcup, instead of running to Bexleyheath via Blendon, Bridgen and Old Bexley along the established day route 132. The Night service to Sidcup was simultaneously replaced by a 24-hour service on route 321, restoring a night service to New Eltham after an absence of 10 years. In October 2009, brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs were introduced alongside the existing Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs. In October 2016, the route was converted to a full Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs operation. On 28 May 2017, the Bexleyheath (BX) allocation was transferred to New Cross (NX) garage and the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs were replaced by New Routemasters. On 6 April 2019, the New Routemasters were replaced by Enviro 400 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs. Current Route * Bexleyheath Shopping Centre * Gravel Hill * Bexley * Bridgen The Anchor * Blendon Penhill Road * Blackfen George Staples * Avery Hill * Eltham High Street * Eltham Green * Lee Green * Lewisham Town Centre * New Cross Gate * Old Kent Road * Bricklayer's Arms * Borough * London Bridge (For Guy's Hospital and Southwark Cathedral) * Monument * Bank * St Paul's * Ludgate Circus * Aldwych (For Covent Garden) * Trafalgar Square (For Charing Cross Station) External links *London Bus Routes Gallery *Full Timetable (PDF) Gallery N21 to Trafalgar Square.png N21.png N21 to Bexleyheath, Shopping Centre.png N21 2.png N21 3.png N021, London Buses routes N021, Night Routes in London